This disclosure relates to systems and methods for efficient usage of communication circuitry that may implement protocols with variable channel specifications.
Integrated circuit devices are used in numerous electronic systems. Computers, handheld devices, portable phones, televisions, industrial control systems, robotics, and telecommunication networking—to name just a few—all use integrated circuit devices. Integrated circuit devices may be formed using lithography techniques that pattern circuitry onto a substrate wafer that is diced to form a number of (generally identical) individual integrated circuit die. Each integrated circuit die may include many different components, such as programmable logic fabric, digital or analog signal transmission circuitry, digital signal processing circuitry, application-specific data processing circuitry, memory, and so forth. In general, different components may be based on different underlying technologies. Thus, different components of an integrated circuit device may be better suited to different development cycles or fabrication techniques. For example, programmable logic fabric such as field programmable gate array (FPGA) fabric may scale well to smaller sizes and thus may benefit from greatly by newer lithography techniques. On the other hand, other technologies, such as certain analog signal transmission circuitry, may not scale as well and may be better suited for older fabrication techniques.
To enable different components of an integrated circuit device to be developed more independently, some of the components may be moved off-chip. Instead of a single monolithic design, a first integrated circuit die with some of the components may be fabricated separately from a second integrated circuit die with other components. As such, the various separate integrated circuits may be fabricated using different lithography techniques or generations, and may be developed according to different schedules. Yet separating the components onto separate die may come at a cost. Namely, it may be difficult or impossible to use the same number of wires between the separate first integrated circuit die and the second integrated circuit die.
In some cases, the first integrated circuit die may send and transmit communication signals using transceiver circuitry that is located on the second integrated circuit. The transceiver circuitry may include, for example, one or several transmitters and/or receivers physically connected to one or more communication channels. The communication channels that are connected to the transceiver of the second integrated circuit die may be wired or wireless, and may allow the first integrated circuit die to communicate with external data sources via the second integrated circuit die. As noted above, the number of connection wires between the first integrated circuit die and the second integrated circuit die may be limited in comparison to those available in a monolithic design. At the same time, however, certain communication protocols that are often used by transceivers in monolithic designs may involve communication via multiple communication channels. In some cases, the number of communication channels used by the protocols may exceed the number of interconnections available between the first integrated circuit die and the second integrated circuit die.